Mercury Air Quality Superfund Nebraska Main   More Communities 2002 Report

There's a Better Way to Protect Nebraska's Families and Communities EPA Contractors have been working to remove contaminated soil from the estimated 16,000 Omaha residences and daycares plagued with toxic lead. Nebraska is rich and abundant with farmland, prairies, and college football fans! Regardless of the season, we Nebraskans enjoy a special relationship with our natural inheritance. From the cornfields to the lively streets of Omaha, from the Missouri river to the Platte River, the outdoors has always been important to our residents and civic leaders. We know that protecting our state's natural resources and beauty makes Nebraska's economy stronger and our families healthier. Today, however, our state's treasured environment has been put at risk. The Bush administration policies that weaken and ignore federal environmental safeguards are already harming our families' health and our natural heritage. Decades ago, Americans decided that a clean, safe environment is an important part of the American dream. However, the Bush administration is adopting policies that allow electric companies, cement companies, and other industries to weaken the laws and regulations that protect the health and safety of Nebraska's families, allowing irresponsible corporations to benefit at our expense. The administration, has shifted the cost of cleaning up many of Nebraska's 11 Superfund toxic waste sites from polluters to taxpayers, and increased the risk of mercury poisoning for Nebraska's women and children. The ASARCO lead smelter plant polluted Omaha’s land, air and water for over 100 years. The plant in Omaha was the largest lead smelter in the country, and thus became the greatest contributor to the toxic lead in residential soils in eastern Omaha. The administration's undermining of our nation's most basic environmental protections leaves the people of Nebraska exposed and vulnerable to increased amounts of asthma-triggering soot, development retarding mercury, learning debilitating lead, and other contaminants. In each case, the Bush administration's policies put Nebraskan's communities at risk. This report depicts the consequences of the Bush Administration actions - and lack of action - on the health and safety of families, through the experiences of community members in Omaha. It also serves to remind us what we have learned over the last thirty years - that there is a better way; that know-how and a successful track record in cleaning up the pollution in our air and water and the poisons in our soil has made a difference. However know-how, effective laws, and proven technological solutions are clearly not enough when the Bush Administration is determined to let polluting corporations off the hook, weaken the regulations that reduce pollution, and strip funding from the agencies responsible for enforcing environmental laws. Only public pressure on decision makers will ensure that the last three decades of progress is not lost, and that we instead continue to keep our communities safe by protecting our children's legacy of clean air, water, and land. Photos: Excavation photo courtesy Dan Garvey. Asarco photo courtesy Sierra Club Nebraska, Missouri Valley group. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club